Wednesday, May 6, 2015

OPI Colour Paints Blendable Nail Lacquer

Who's excited about OPI Colour Paints? There has been a lot of buzz surrounding their release, as there wasn't a whole lot of solid info and the premise is unlike other polishes we've seen before. So, what are they? Sheer, but build-able, and blendable shades that can be used to create an endless array of nail art. Interested? Read on for swatches and my nail art creation.

The Colour Paints range includes eight rainbow shades and a silver shade for use as a base when creating nail art. You might be wondering how these compare to the Sheer Tints from last year, as he idea does have its similarities, but Colour Paints are much more pigmented and can be built up to full and semi-full opacity (depending on the shade.) I was quite impressed by that fact, as I expected these wouldn't reach full opacity. For swatches I used two coats for each shade, which gives the full depth of colour, but as you'll soon see, not all shades have the same pigmentation.

The polish is easy to work with, with a syrup/jelly type texture that dries to a high shine. I haven't played round a whole lot with these, but I imagine you could create some pretty interesting jelly sandwich creations if you were to layer these with glitters. The options are endless really... Onto the swatches!

OPI Colour Paints Magenta Muse*

Magenta Muse is a pinky-red with one coat, and develops into a cherry red with two I found it was hard to tell the difference between Magenta Muse and Pen & Pink when I was creating my nail art , as this does read quite pink with only one coat. This shade is mostly full coverage with two coats, but you can still see a hint VNL (visible Nail line) on my ring and inky finger which have super white tips (compared to my other nails, it's odd, I know.)

OPI Colour Paints Chromatic Orange*

Chromatic Orange is a juicy, warm orange. Two coats provides the same semi-full coverage as Magenta Muse.

OPI Colour Paints Primarily Yellow*

Primarily Yellow is an orange tinged, egg yolk, yellow. I used two coats, and considered a third, but I don't think this would ever completely cover VNL.

Silver Canvas is a metallic silver to be used under the other shades. On it's own, it's kind of a brush-strokey mess, but does work nicely under the colours. For the swatches above I used one coat of each shade over two coats of Silver Canvas. That said, white or any other silvery shade would work well too- ooh, like a holo, that could really pop.

OPI Colour Paints Art School Chic Nail Art

When I sat down with these, I wasn't exactly sure what I wanted to create, but I ended up being inspired by paint. I used a dry brush technique to apply small strips of colour over Silver Canvas to mimic the look of an incomplete paint job. I love how the rainbow of shades flows along each nail and that the polishes truly can be blended together for a smooth transition between shades.

Overall, I think these are pretty great. I love that you're really only limited by your ow creativity and can create an endless array of looks. That said, to really get the most out of them you're going to want all of the shades, which could get a little pricey. It would be nice if mini sets are released, but as of now, no word that they will be. What do you think of these? Are they something you're interested in?